FAA Clears Airborne Wireless Test Flights

Airborne Wireless Network has received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to conduct test flights with Cessna 172 aircraft.

The Simi Valley telecommunications company will demonstrate its hybrid radio frequency-controlled and free space optics-linked proprietary technology to create a high-speed broadband network using commercial aircraft.

The approval from the FAA allows the company to modify and install its equipment onto two Cessna 172 aircraft and outlines a proposed flight test routing and operating area.

Chief Executive Michael Warren called the FAA’s action a significant milestone for the company to begin its first-of-a-kind demonstration.

“The goal of this demonstration is to test how quickly the company's patent-pending algorithms can resynchronize the optical link and transfer large data files,” Warren said in a statement. “Our sophisticated software technology will be used to take thousands of samples and calculate the precise location of each aircraft assigned to the mesh network.”

The company announced the approval on Wednesday. Shares of Airborne Wireless (ABWN) closed Thursday down 1 cent, or 2.3 percent, to 22 cents on the over-the-counter market.